All New CommentMILK Version 1.0Planning Contest Criteria - Part 5 of AnAudLife dot Com
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In the previous post “Planning a Contest to Get the Buzz Going” we talked about deciding on what the best prizes would be for your market and today we are going to talk about planning the criteria that participants are required to perfrom to be entered to win.
One of the challenges of holding a contest is how do you make it viral so it gets loads of attention. People that enter the contest usually do not want to talk about it with others since it will decrease their chances of winning. With http://www.anaudlife.com, my goal of the contest is to get exposure for the blog and in order to do that I want the contest to encourage participants to talk about the contest in other places and personally I am a fan of the “Ticket” system for allowing participants the opportunity to earn more chances to win by spreading the word.
There are many people who are not big fans of the multi ‘Ticket’ system but the problem is if you have a new blog and you do not already have a significant reader base, having a contest or giveaway that is just a simple “subscribe”, is not going to get you any extra exposure.
Now do not get me wrong, contests with simple one step registrations can be very successful but you need to already have lots of traffic coming to your site to take advantage of it.
For our case study blog we are going to use the multi ‘Ticket’ system and now we need to plan out the criteria.
This can prove to be somewhat of a challenge for people, especially in non “IM” (internet marketing) related niches. One of the great things about the IM niche is you can be pretty sure that most people in the market own a website or blog, have accounts at social networks, know what digg, twitter and squidoo are and the list goes on and on.
You need to be able to take advantage of systems that the sites market will be familiar with and it can not be done in such a way that would appear to be spamming someone. One thing you will want to consider is providing small little video instructions of each criteria that your readers may not be familiar with, this way you can help those that want to participate but do not know how.
Criteria 1: Subscribe to RSS feed via email: This is the top thing that I want people to do. Getting someone opted in to the sites list means repeat traffic. It is important that you also mention that they must remain opted into the list in order to win.
Possible optional criteria:
The optional criteria are the extra things the participant can do to get more chances to win. You will want to award points based on effort and so something that is very easy to do would earn a few points but something that is more difficult would earn more points. Before you worry about the points however, you need to figure out what optional steps to use. Some ideas for our case study blog is…
- Vote for Video on YouTube: We would need to create a video about the site but most people know what Youtube is and it would be easy to make a quick video about how to vote the video up and comment on it.
- Facebook and or Myspace: You can be pretty sure that a lot of people are familiar with these sites and have accounts at one or both of them. You can create a group or page and have them join and write on their wall about the contest.
- Content Creation: Some people love to write and you could have them create content for you that you can use. Ask them to write a 400 word article about your contest and blog, you can then submit this article to a site like ezinearticles.com to get some exposure. You can even offer to link to their site with the article as well, this way you both get a good quality backlink.
- Link to Your Blog: I can guarantee you that the majority of your readers will not own a blog but a lot of them will have some way of adding a link to your blog. It never hurts to ask.
- Stumble the Page: This is one of those things that a lot of people will not have accounts with but you can provide instructions and hope for the best.
- Comment on Other Blog: This one you need to be careful with and provide detailed instructions but is an easy way to get some links via comments. Explain that the comments must be worthwhile and relate directly to the post they are commenting on and are not to enter a link in the comment but simply enter your sites name and url in the asked for comment fields. Make sure that the blog they comment on is at least remotely related to your market.
Cow Brained Idea –> Hmmm…. thinking outside the box here but maybe you could get a little script made that you prefill with blogs you would like them to comment on and the post randomly shows one for them to comment on. Damn I think I am going to get that made… it is freakin genius bwa hahahaha.
Once you have decided on the criteria you are going to use, you will then need to figure out the point values.
Your Help is Wanted –> What other ideas do you have… please comment below and share other possible ideas you have for a non IM “arthritis” blog.
In the next post of this series, I am going to about protecting yourself with your contest.
- Part 1 - Planning Your Promotion Strategy
- Part 2 - Understanting the How and Where of Your Promotion Strategy
- Part 3 - Planning the Subscriber Traffic Strategy
- Part 4 - Planning a Contest to Get the Buzz Going
- Part 5 - Planning the Contest Criteria
- Part 6 - Protect Yourself Before You Start a Contest
- Part 7 - Rule of the Contest Prize Delivery
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- Planning Our Subscriber Traffic Strategy - Part 3 of An Aud Life Dot Com | John Cow dot Com
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Getting people to write content is a great idea which I am using for my blog contest which launches tomorrow.
I am also trying to get people to build links to my site (offering a large amounts of tickets for doing this).
So great advice, most of which I am using tomorrow
Excellent.. love to see how it goes.
This all sounds great but how are you going to keep track of the number of tickets people have generated for themselves.
Do you have a tracking software in place? If so, care to share?
glad you asked… got something that will be available in the next couple of days for you
Hi John Cow,
Last week I inquired about a tracking system or software that will enable us to keep track of the number of entries for each contestant in the competition…
How’s that going?
Looking forward…
J
Very good.. that is actually been the hold up for th enext post.. I think it will be ready today.
Hi John Cow,
Still awaiting your post on how to track entries for a contest/giveaway…
Perhaps you posted it elsewhere? If so, point the way.
Looking forward.
~Jay
This excellent information on contests…very well thought out and complete, I learned from it and I appreciate the post, great blog!
GP Garrys last blog post..Go for a Swim!
These are all wonderful way to expand the level’s of promotion for an upcoming contest. I love using the affiliate method, but some people are scared by it so as you said it really just depends on your current traffic levels and niche to which direction you would primarily leverage to get the most back on your investment.
Big Ben Pattons last blog post..10 Absolute Must Know Tips For Internet Marketers
exactly, each niche is unique and needs to be approached depending on how the market reacts to these type things.
Not only are the prizes and the method important, so is the promotion. We’ve launched ContestLive.com, a voting network where you can promote and vote for your own contests. Contests are running wild in the blogosphere and the internet, and we are here to help *hopefully!*
Contest Lives last blog post..Earrings Giveaway from The Smiling Frog Shop
Hmm.. cool little idea, I will start incorporating you in my contests.
I look forward to that!
Contest Lives last blog post..Win a Scottish Sailing Vacation
phenomenal post! Your case studies are well thought out. It is crazy how many contests are running right now.
Ultimate Blogging Experiments last blog post..Should I Have a Long Kick Ass Article or Short Kick Ass Article?
Love reading –> “phenomenal post!”
thanks and keep up the good work, I have become a regular reader of yours as well
Nice article. I can for sure implement it in my promotional strategy. I’m looking forward for next articles.
Perfect timing for me as I’m thinking about how to come up with a unique contest that’s different but will still do the job. It’s cool that everyone’s having contests, but it gets a bit boring when everyone has basically the same type of format (including prizes and entry).
Good stuff, got the wheels spinnin’ upstairs.
Cheers!
Jay
John. . .I’d love to see you cover the value of subscribers gained from contests. I always just thought of them as ‘freebie seekers’ with no intrinsic value. What are your thoughts and experience?
I have learned a ton of information from here. I never thought of doing little things like this to get readers active on my blog. I’m sure i’ll look more closely at it now
Bruno Augers last blog post..Communicate to your Market through a Blog
I love this series of posts. I am in the process of creating a link building giveaway for my web site. This information has been extremely useful. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Keep up the good work.